Home Nations Support

All discussion relating to international tournaments including qualifying groups/matches. Since 2006.

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Believer
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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by Believer »

Het-Field wrote: Fri Jul 09, 2021 1:24 pm

English football is more than just the 'ESL' teams, and with that realisation is coming both success and support.
Great post and I totally agree. The thing with this squad and manager is that players who play for every club will have that belief and hunger to think that if they knuckle down for their clubs, they don’t need to move to a Liverpool or a Man City or a Man Utd, they just need to do their thing week in week out.

What Southgate has done is fantastic for every club in the country. I’d say it’ll probably have an impact on all of the home nations in actual fact. The Welsh, the Scots, the Irish will all look at what England have achieved or are currently achieving and think, you know what, you don’t need to be a superstar, you just need to be prepared to be a team player who will give their all..

Edit - it helps to be a really good player as well :wink:

Great stuff.
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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

Believer wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 4:48 pm

The Welsh, the Scots, the Irish will all look at what England have achieved or are currently achieving and think, you know what, you don’t need to be a superstar, you just need to be prepared to be a team player who will give their all..


I'm sure you meant this sincerely , Believer me old mate but what do you think Scotland , Wales and the two Irish nations have been doing thus far , playing a squad of superstars ??? :crylol:

How do you think Wales got through to the semi finals of the Euros in 2016 - take Ramsey and Bale out of the team that beat Belgium 3-1 and you wouldn't have got more than about £30m for the lot of them - sheer guts , determination and teamwork got them there .



Good Luck for tonight . :newthumb:
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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by Jumby »

Believer wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 4:48 pm
What Southgate has done is fantastic for every club in the country. I’d say it’ll probably have an impact on all of the home nations in actual fact. The Welsh, the Scots, the Irish will all look at what England have achieved or are currently achieving and think, you know what, you don’t need to be a superstar, you just need to be prepared to be a team player who will give their all..

Edit - it helps to be a really good player as well :wink:

Great stuff.
You've leaked the secret recipe :winker:
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Believer
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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by Believer »

I knew what I meant :crylol:

The point I was trying to make was that, the work ethic and team morale from this years squad has proven that you don’t need a Gazza, a Beckham or a Rooney, you just need self belief.

As has been mentioned a fair bit across the Euro threads, there’s Aston Villa players, Leeds, West Ham, Everton along with the “big club” players.

Wales did fantastically well 5 years ago and did ok this year. Scotland, with a decent goal scorer would have probably got through the group.

The one thing I would say though to counter all this is that teams like Spain, France and Germany will improve. In my humble opinion, I doubt there will be an easier opportunity to win a tournament than this year.

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough and have a sore head to nurse...
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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by Jumby »

I do get the feeling that the other nations are going to really push on after this, that's not to say that England won't either but France, Spain and Germany have some decent talent emerging and some already established brilliant youngsters. International football is getting harder I think, more and more teams are finding ways to get a result.
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Re: Home Nations Support

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During and after the Wales v Denmark games I had two of my mates, both England fans, ripping it out of me and Wales, one in particular, to the point where it got a little weird and he started questioning my nationality (I was born in Cardiff, lived there for two years before moving to England, my dad and grandads were Welsh). I took it all and just laughed it off, I went along with it and the more obsessive one said he'd expect exactly the same when England get knocked out. A short while after yesterday I sent him a message merely quoting one of his many digs at me with a :winker: Cue two hours of relentless abuse! I woke up today to six more messages. This is the kind of thing that annoys me about home nations support, if you dish it out as light hearted banter and even massively overstep the mark you have to be able to take it, especially when it's only a tiny fraction of what you have dished out.
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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by ClydeBuilt »

Now it's all over I'd like to mention a few things.

1. Wales are a team who punch well above their weight and probably reached their maximum potential currently. A semi final and a knockout game in successive tournaments is possibly bang on what they can achieve. I look at some of the class players and then some of their younger inexperienced guys and think Bale etc can only drag so many of them along at this time. Maybe it'll not last but I would largely be pleased with what I saw if I was Welsh.

2. Scotland underperformed. They had enough talent playing in decent teams and decent leagues, 2 games at home and the net result is 5 conceded and 1 goal scored. For all the hype the performances outside England were largely familiar. Not sure Clarke is the guy to really inspire this crop of young players but unlikely they'll switch managers now. Probably look back on this as a missed opportunity.

3. England have a good side and shouldn't be too downhearted. Home advantage and a draw suited them sure but you beat Germany and a good Denmark side before taking Italy to penalties. Its quite clear you can NOW say you're one of the best teams in the world because you have proven to many people you can perform.
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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

ClydeBuilt wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 3:50 pm Now it's all over I'd like to mention a few things.

1. Wales are a team who punch well above their weight and probably reached their maximum potential currently. A semi final and a knockout game in successive tournaments is possibly bang on what they can achieve. I look at some of the class players and then some of their younger inexperienced guys and think Bale etc can only drag so many of them along at this time. Maybe it'll not last but I would largely be pleased with what I saw if I was Welsh.

2. Scotland underperformed. They had enough talent playing in decent teams and decent leagues, 2 games at home and the net result is 5 conceded and 1 goal scored. For all the hype the performances outside England were largely familiar. Not sure Clarke is the guy to really inspire this crop of young players but unlikely they'll switch managers now. Probably look back on this as a missed opportunity.

3. England have a good side and shouldn't be too downhearted. Home advantage and a draw suited them sure but you beat Germany and a good Denmark side before taking Italy to penalties. Its quite clear you can NOW say you're one of the best teams in the world because you have proven to many people you can perform.

Fully agree with everything you've said .

Wales - When Bale and Ramsey retire from international football we'll go on another decline - Wales getting to the semi-finals of the Euros was a greater achievement than England winning the World Cup in my opinion certainly a greater achievement than England getting to any Euro Final .


Scotland - you have a much better squad of players than Wales but are let down by your lack of quality centre halves and strikers - solve that one and you could be anything .


England - Have been Britain's top dog and always will be , circumstances will always dictate that - losing Alexander-Arnold was a huge blow and choosing Harry Kane as Captain meant he was virtually undroppable and a lack of a Plan B - also maybe [ just maybe ] a few too many youngsters when some older heads might have been the better choice . Easy to say after the event - England got through to the Final , other than winning it they did as well as could have been expected .
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Re: Home Nations Support

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The Old Man of Storr wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:28 am Fully agree with everything you've said .

Wales - When Bale and Ramsey retire from international football we'll go on another decline - Wales getting to the semi-finals of the Euros was a greater achievement than England winning the World Cup in my opinion certainly a greater achievement than England getting to any Euro Final .


Scotland - you have a much better squad of players than Wales but are let down by your lack of quality centre halves and strikers - solve that one and you could be anything .


England - Have been Britain's top dog and always will be , circumstances will always dictate that - losing Alexander-Arnold was a huge blow and choosing Harry Kane as Captain meant he was virtually undroppable and a lack of a Plan B - also maybe [ just maybe ] a few too many youngsters when some older heads might have been the better choice . Easy to say after the event - England got through to the Final , other than winning it they did as well as could have been expected .
What we've been treated to by Wales in the last 7 years or so, from Euro 2016 qualifying to now, has been beyond my wildest dreams. A 10 year old boy watching Bodin crack it against the bar followed by the defeats to Georgia and Moldova and the Gould era, I had resigned myself to never seeing us in a major tournament. Hughes briefly gave us hope before Toshack undid the good work. I'd completely given up. I don't think enough people truly understand the enormity of what a squad filled with a lot of lower league level players has achieved. Yes we have Bale, Ramsey and a few others but those few others aren't as good as anyone in the Belgium side that we beat twice and drew against once in three competitive games. The punching down from England fans has been pathetic.
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Re: Home Nations Support

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Jumby wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 12:40 pm The punching down from England fans has been pathetic.

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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

Jumby wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 12:40 pm The punching down from England fans has been pathetic.

Akin to Manchester City fans ripping the piss out of West Bromwich Albion fans .

That 2016 video hurt them to the core .
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Re: Home Nations Support

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The Old Man of Storr wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 2:16 pm Akin to Manchester City fans ripping the piss out of Weymouth fans .

That 2016 video hurt them to the core .
Sure.

:lol:
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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by Het-Field »

The Old Man of Storr wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:28 am

Wales - When Bale and Ramsey retire from international football we'll go on another decline - Wales getting to the semi-finals of the Euros was a greater achievement than England winning the World Cup in my opinion certainly a greater achievement than England getting to any Euro Final .
I'd still maintain Wales underachieved at the tournament. They have a much better spread of players than the post tournament, and post exit commentary suggests, and I think Wales would be within their rights to perhaps inflate their expectations. I said at the time of their exit that it reminded me of the time Ireland went to the 1994 World Cup. We beat Italy, drew with Norway, but lost to Mexico and Holland. The game against Holland was particularly poor as they had our number throughout, and the defeat could have been larger than the 2-0 margin. The team came home and was feted, but very few people actually accepted that major cracks were beginning to show, and that perhaps fresh management and fresh players might have made the difference when we failed to qualify for Euro 1996.

As a small nation, there can be a disposition to focus on the better things, but I dont think it would be unfair to discuss the future of Welsh management, and players, and how best to prepare for an era when the likes of Wilson, James etc become the prominent players, and how best to leverage that. I honestly think Wales have a lot more in the tank if well structured.
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Re: Home Nations Support

Post by Jumby »

I think we might make Qatar but after that we're at a crossroads, full back looks like it's going to be a serious problem and up front we don't have anyone that's emerged in the last 5 years since our last tournament, we're just lucky that Kieffer Moore came out of relative obscurity and had a Welsh nan. I don't think Harry Wilson is all that but I rate Brooks, he just needs a better club than Bournemouth.
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